Tag: Radek Faksa

Sharks Fall 3-2 in a Shootout with the Stars

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The San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (30) gets a stick on the puck for a save as the Dallas Stars Ty Dellandrea looks on at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Sat Mar 2, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Stars goals came from Radek Faksa and Jason Robertson. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored in the shootout. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the win.

Sharks goals came from William Eklund and Filip Zadina. Anthony Duclair scored in the shootout. Magnus Chrona made 36 saves in the loss. This is the Sharks’ sixth loss in a row, though they did get a point against the top team in the Central Division.

With Mackenzie Blackwood on IR, Chrona is bound to see a few more starts before the end of the season. His last start for the Sharks was on December 28, when he was pulled after giving up four goals in the first period. Saturday, his performance was better, giving up just two goals on 38 shots. After the game, Sharks forward Luke Kunin said, of the young goaltender:

“He was great tonight. Some huge saves for us, really kept us in that game. I thought we had a pretty good game for the most part but those stretches where we were giving up a lot, he was there to back us up. Great performance by him tonight.”

Of the Sharks game outside the net, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “The faceoffs killed us. I think they won almost 70% of their faceoffs. You’re chasing the game a lot when you’re losing that many faceoffs. But I thought overall we played a good hockey game.” The Stars did win 67.2% of the faceoffs.

The Sharks scored first at 4:39 of the first period. William Eklund and Luke Kunin entered the zone two-on-one and Eklund took a shot that Oettinger kicked back out. Eklund was ready to catch the rebound and scored with a quick wrist shot. Assists went to Kunin and Jan Rutta.

The Stars tied it at 3:08 of the second period. Sam Steel deflected Craig Smith’s shot from the boards. The puck trickled through Chrona but still needed an extra push from Radek Faksa to cross the line.

The Sharks took the lead back with a goal at 17:08 of the second. Filip Zadina spun around in the faceoff circle and took his shot. The puck bounced up over Oettinger and hit the post before a Star swept it out of the net. An official review determined that the puck did cross the line. Luke Kunin got an assist.

Fabian Zetterlund blocked a shot with his ankle in the final minutes of the period. He had to be helped off the ice and back to the dressing room.

The Stars tied it again at 4:08 of the third period with a power play goal just 3 seconds into that power play. Jason Robertson took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, putting the puck into the side of the net. Assists went to Miro Heiskanen and Jamie Benn.

Early in the third period, Nico Sturm returned to the bench with an injury, possibly an elbow or a stick to the neck.

At the end of regulation, the Stars had outshot the Sharks 36 to 20. Dallas took a penalty about half way through overtime but the Sharks could not take advantage of that. The Sharks had three shots in overtime and the Stars had two.

The shootout went to seven rounds. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Benn scored the winner while falling to the ice after tripping over Chrona’s stick.

Jake Oettinger stopped shots from Filip Zetterlund, William Eklund, Kyle Granlund, Filip Zadina, Mike Hoffman and Luke Kunin. Anthony Duclair scored for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona stopped shots from Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Logan Stankoven and Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 4:00 PM PT in St. Paul, Minnesota, against the Wild.

Sharks see Stars on New Year’s Eve in 6-0 loss in Dallas

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Dallas Stars left wing Antoine Roussel (21) and center Radek Faksa (12) celebrate a goal by center Tyler Pitlick (18) on San Jose Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell (30) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Dallas, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017. The Stars won 6-0. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

By: M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were roundly defeated by the Dallas Stars 6-0 in their last game of 2017. The Sharks were unable to recover from a sluggish first period, despite having their leading scorer (Logan Couture) back in the lineup after a two week absence.

First period goals came from Stars defenseman John Klingberg and Stars forward Tyler Pitlick.

The first goal came just over six minutes into the game. Alexander Radulov pushed his way past the Sharks defenders on the boards and got the puck to Janmark. Janmark carried it behind the net and passed it up to Klingberg, whose quick shot beat Jones on the far side. Assists went to Janmark and Radulov. The second goal came at 15:07 just after a faceoff in the Sharks zone. Pitlick narrowly avoided losing the puck to Joe Thornton, and then to Melker Karlsson, before beating Jones over the right shoulder with a wrist shot. An assist went to Faksa.

The Stars outshot the Sharks 17-5 in the first period.

Second period goals came from Stephen Johns and Tyler Seguin.

In the second, the shots went the other way with the Sharks up 12-5, but still, the Stars scored twice. The teams were trading penalties during the first five minutes. The Sharks’ Joonas Donskoi and the Stars’ Brett Ritchie were in the box so the teams were playing four on four. The Stars took control after a defensive zone faceoff and moved quickly through the neutral zone. Stephen Johns took a shot from almost the blue line that made its way through traffic and past Jones’s right glove. Janmark and Faksa got the assists.

Near the seven minute mark, Alexander Radulov went into the boards after a not very dangerous-looking push from Justin Braun. He was down for some time before skating off the ice under his own power. He left the ice presumably for evaluation.

The Stars scored on a power play at 9:33, a Klingberg shot redirected by Tyler Seguin.

Third period goals came from Pitlick and Devin Shore. Klingberg, Pitlick, Jamie Benn, and Mattias Janmark each turned in two-point games, while Radek Faksa earned three.

The third period goals came just fifty seconds apart. Devin Shore picked up the puck at the blue line as he raced into the zone and slipped past everyone to get in front of Aaron Dell. He used a late backhand to get around the Sharks’ backup goaltender.

The final goal came after Faksa and Antoine Roussel entered the zone on a brief two on one. The Sharks caught up to them but a rebound snuck out to Pitlick who was trailing the play. He shot it through the mass of players in front of the goal and scored his second of the game. Assists went to Faksa and Roussel.

Joe Pavelski, Justin Braun and Brent Burns each got credit for four shots on goal, with Timo Meier coming in second for the Sharks with three.

Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop made 26 saves for the shutout. For the Sharks, Martin Jones made 18 saves in the first two periods, and Aaron Dell made eight saves in the third.

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, of the first period: “We were fighting the puck, it was tough out there early. And they might have done a little of it but a lot of it came from us at the start and just really allowed them to stay in our end. It wasn’t one guy either, it was a group effort out there and we all contributed to that showing.”

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer dismissed the suggestion that this game was symptomatic of a larger problem with how the team plays on the road: “I don’t look at this like we’ve been a poor road team. This was a poor game tonight. We’ll see, I’d like to think that we can go on the road and play our game, we’ve done it even this year for stretches. So I don’t think it’s a symptom of something bigger, just a bad night.”

The only good news in the game for Sharks fans was Logan Couture’s return to the ice after missing four games to injury. Couture was asked after the game whether he had any doubts while he was recovering:

There’s always doubt and there’s always anxiousness. A lot of times, when you’re going to sleep at night when you’re dealing with this injury, you’re always doubting yourself and you’re always doubting coming back from it. Thinking of the worst just comes with the territory. I think the first shift I got out there and chased the puck around in our own end for about fifty seconds. First period was tough but from there on I felt okay. I didn’t play very well but I felt okay.

The Sharks next play in Montreal against the Canadiens at 4:30 pm PT on Tuesday.